Articles Posted inLaws

Tax reform, healthcare and the debt ceiling have been at the top of the agenda for Congress. However, consumer activists and Democratic lawmakers are serving notice of their intent to continue protecting the right of people to sue nursing homes for abuse and neglect of the elderly patients in their care since the Trump administration plans to rollback legal rights for people to sue nursing homes Obama put in place.

Under the Obama administration’s plan, nursing homes which receive federal funding, which is most, were prohibited from requiring all disputes, including neglect and abuse, to be addresses through a mandatory arbitration as opposed to the legal system.

During the August recess, 31 senators wrote to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provisions in their contracts for mandatory arbitrations. Lawmakers stressed that forced arbitration stacks the deck against the residents and their loved ones. Residents face a wide array of potentially harmful activity. Physical abuse and neglect, as well as sexual abuse and wrongful death at the hands of nursing home staff are top among the atrocities residents can possibly face.

Both sides of the medical malpractice tort reform debate are out in full-force lobbying Congress concerning a House GOP bill which aims to cap pain, suffering and all non-economic damages in a medical malpractice suit. The bill also lays out more limitations in malpractice suits involving care provided or funded by the federal branch of government.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa authored the bill called The Protecting Access Care Act of 2017. It creates a three-year statute of limitations after the damage is done, or one-year after the injured party discovers the damage, whichever occurs first. While it limits non-economic damages to $250,000, it does not preempt caps established by states. There are also limitations on plaintiff attorney contingency fees and other provisions.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi received word from over 80 advocacy groups against the bill referred to H.R.1215, stating it removes the rights of patients who are injured in malpractice cases, elder abuse cases, prescription of dangerous drug negligence, and defective medical devices. They further claim that even if only applied to medical care facilities and staff, studies show its provisions would cause more injury and death due to the wide loosening of care. The letter written by the advocacy groups cited a 2003 Consumer Watchdog study that disputes the idea that California’s malpractice cap is the primary reason behind the premiums for doctors being lowered. They go on to write that trial lawyers lobby for the bill in order to raise their fees.

Today, I would like to speak to you about how details are important when it comes to the practice of law. Sometimes, all it takes is one tiny little thing that can change the outcome of an entire claim.

For those who don’t know, an Oxford comma is what we also refer to as the serial comma. It is a stylistic recommendation that a comma should be used before coordinate conjunctions (usually and or or) in a series of three or more terms. This advocation exists to try and avoid ambiguity. But the world of writing seems to keep fighting a constant battle on whether this comma should be taken as a mere recommendation or something more.

The latest story comes from Maine, where a local dairy product company is facing a lawsuit for over $10 Million due in overtime hours to truck drivers, and at the heart of the dispute is the lack of this comma in a state law. In essence, the clause states that the following tasks are not eligible for overtime:

California roads are a mess. Traffic is ridiculous and the roads themselves are in disrepair. One reason for this is because there hasn’t been a gas tax increase in 23 years. That has changed as of now, however. After a week of brutal deliberation among conflicting interests, a plan to increase vehicle fees and gas taxes by $5.2 billion per year was approved by Legislature. The gains are to be used to repair the deteriorating bridges, roads, streets and highways of California.

The bill barely made it through the Senate on the 27-11 vote it ended with. It had 54 Assembly votes. Those are the absolute lowest numbers a bill can have in both houses and still pass. The deliberations lasted way off into the night with the Democrats of the Assembly three votes short of the two-thirds they needed at the onset. In the end, Assemblyman Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) was the only Assembly Democrat not to back the bill. Gov. Jerry Brown was a huge proponent of the bill saying it was necessary after not having such a tax or expense in 23 years and the logjam of over $130 million in replacement and repair projects needed throughout all of California.

Those touting the bill explained it would not just fix and maintain the roads. Many claim it will also boost the economy and make the roads safer and traffic better. The overwhelming majority state the roads are just too bad and have become a danger to the public in most places around the state. Legislative leaders had set a deadline on themselves to begin action on the bill by Thursday which is just before the spring recess.

The Amtrak passenger train crash of September 2008 was devastating for crash victims and their families. Emergency vehicles that were the first on the scene described at as both despairing and devastating, and victims of that crash are still recovering and fighting lawsuits to this day.

Their next challenge will be up against damage caps. According to Congress, there will be a limit on the total amount of damages that can be paid to passengers. The limit is $200 million, which may seem like a lot, but victims of that horrific crash don’t agree. So far, that number has not come close to compensating the number of people who were injured in that wreck.

The crash itself was one of the worst in the state of California. On September 12, 2008, an Amtrak train was heading north of the downtown area of Los Angeles when the driver, who was texting at the time, ran a red light. By running the light, the passenger train ran directly into a Union Pacific freight train. The collision resulted in 25 death and another 100 injured passengers. To this day, this wreck was one of the worst in U.S. history.

When you’re in an auto accident, you might feel as if you’re being pulled in so many different directions. You’re worried about your own injuries and how they will affect your personal life and your ability to hold down a job. You might also be worried about any loved ones of yours who were also injured in the accident. Finally, your car has probably taken some serious damage, and it might be awhile before you have the money to either fix it or get a new one.

What you do need to be keenly aware of, out of all these issues, is the matter of statutes of limitations. After you’re in your accident, you have a set amount of time during which you need to get your claim filed. These limitations can change how you and your insurance claims are handled. If you file a claim past the deadline, you will not be able to file a case or a claim with your insurance.

If you have a personal injury claim resulting from an accident, then you have two years to file a lawsuit with regards to auto insurance. If you have property damage to your vehicle or personal property, then you have three years for which to file a lawsuit.

When you get a quote for your auto insurance, you see one lump sum, but what exactly makes up that lump sum. You might be surprised to learn that the state laws of California actually have a lot to do with how much you pay for auto insurance. Certain laws can give you discounts for certain things while raising your rates for others.

If you’re planning on moving out of California or to California, then you need to be aware that your auto insurance might go up or down, depending on where you’re moving to and which laws apply to your situation. Here are a few laws and protections you should be aware of if you’re planning to move in the near future.

How cool would it be to never have to drive your car again? Some people are lucky enough to experience this now. They have chauffeurs or private drivers to handle the task, but what about the regular, average Joes out there? What if you never had to worrying about making your morning commute because your car would simply drive you itself?

Self-driving vehicles are quickly becoming the new frontier of technology, capturing the minds of those in Silicon Valley, but the actual implementation of driverless cars might need to wait a generation or two. In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 48 percent of Americans said that they would ride in driverless cars. More than half of urban and suburban citizens said they were at least interested in this technology, and a whopping 59 percent of college graduates in the U.S. said they would be willing to give it a try.

Before you know it, seeing a driverless car on the road could become part of your normal routine. You might even own one! Here is what you need to know about the driverless car phenomenon.

Marijuana laws in the United States are changing rapidly. It seems every few months another state has another bill to introduce, either in favor or against in some way. It is a controversial subject with remnants of prohibition days thrown about. Someone traveling across the country be alternately criminal and noncriminal as they sped down the Interstate. Regardless of the laws for possession, all states have outlawed the use of marijuana while driving. Marijuana is widely used, not only throughout the United States, but the world. It is said to be the most widely used of all illicit drugs. No matter how common it is or how innocent the public believes it to be, use of marijuana causes delayed reactions due to physical and mental impairment that can impair driving.

Far more research has been done on driving under the influence of alcohol than marijuana. Research into marijuana highs tells us it has physical and mental effects that will impair the ability to drive. THC is the element in marijuana which causes the adverse effects. While some states do test impaired drivers for specific target levels of THC, California does not define specific levels to qualify as under the influence. Statistics have shown roughly 6 to 11 percent of fatal accident victims test positive for THC. Although significantly lower than alcohol fatal statistics, it is still a public safety issue that must be adequately addressed.

Penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana are the same as driving under the influence of alcohol as per California Vehicle Code 23152(e) VC. The fact that California does not detect specific measures of THC in it’s DUI marijuana arrests, it can make those cases hard to prove. The prosecution must be able to prove a person was driving a vehicle, was under the influence of marijuana and that said marijuana impaired the person’s driving ability in order to convict them of DUI.

Whenever a person falls sick, they turn to a medical doctor in order to get relief from the pain they are suffering from. The patient should have complete trust in the doctor; otherwise, the doctor will not be able to help them. For example, if you do not trust a doctor, how will you follow their prescription? Doctors have expertise in dealing with different types of disease and illnesses.

Doctors are also human and they can also make mistakes. At times, these mistakes are so grave that they lead to serious injuries. For example, injuries can take place if someone is diagnosed inaccurately, or when someone is given the wrong medication. Wrong medicines can prove very harmful for a patient and can cause severe reactions. In the same way, if a patient is diagnosed inaccurately, he or she will keep on taking the wrong medicine. In such cases, the doctors is supposed to pay for the serious mistake. This can be a small mistake but the patients had to suffer from many problems. Therefore, you need to have as much information as possible about medical malpractice law.

As a patient, you should be familiar with your rights and options that are available to you. The medical malpractice laws can help you avoid making payment for treatment or medication because the doctor made a mistake while carrying out a diagnosis or treatment. The medical malpractice laws allow you to file a case against the responsible doctor. If you succeed in proving that the doctor made the mistake on purpose, the court may cancel their license so they could not practice medicine again. This will save patients from bearing pain and paying for medicines.